Flying Stumps and Metal Bats: Cricket's Greatest Moments by the People Who Were There

by Simon Lister

Since 2003 the Wisden Cricketer has run a monthly feature called ‘Eyewitness’. Each article takes a seminal moment in the history of cricket and invites the key protagonists to reminisce about it, relive it and reflect. Now for the first time the very best of ‘Eyewitness’ has been collected in one volume. The result is a fascinating tour of cricket’s most memorable moments, as told by the very people who were there and who made them happen. Here is everything from David Steele’s remarkable Test summer of 1975 to Brian Lara’s awe-inspiring first season with Warwickshire; from the Packer Revolution to Michael Holding kicking down John Parker’s stumps during West Indies’ ill-tempered 1979 tour of New Zealand; from the day the incongruous clang of Dennis Lillee’s aluminium bat first rang out across a cricket field to Essex bowling Surrey out for 14 and ‘weak Victorian’ Dean Jones being hospitalised after his 210 slog in the 40° heat of Madras.
Above all, every story is told in the words of the cricketers, reporters and bystanders who witnessed them. Like Graham Gooch reliving his magnificent triple century against India. Or Lancashire all-rounder David Hughes describing darkness fall over Old Trafford as he plundered 24 off John Mortimore at the end of an astonishing 1971 Gillette Cup semi-final.
Whether re-awakening memories of past glories or opening old wounds, Flying Stumps and Metal Bats is a unique oral history and the perfect gift for any fan of the endlessly unpredictable, ever controversial game that is cricket.

The Wisden Cricketer is the world’s highest-selling monthly cricket magazine. Launched in 2003, it will was the result of a merger between Wisden Cricket Monthly and the Cricketer.
www.thewisdencricketer.com

Genres: History

256 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2000

Reviews

[W]

Yes,it is the same Michael Holding on the cover,who has now been a cricket commentator for decades.He now judges players but in his day,thought nothing of kicking down the stumps.I remember this incident and others like it,involving West Indian fast bowlers well.Intimidation was the name of the game.

As for Metal Bats,there was a certain Dennis Lillee who once brought an aluminium bat on the field,the only one to have done so.There are many other such feathers in his cap.

But looking back,those incidents and the cricket those days was more entertaining than the policed environment of hefty fines and suspensions these days.

[E.T. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 This book is a compilation of group interviews of cricketers on important matches / incidents. While the format made for very interesting reading, 80% of the matches / incidents featured England as one of the sides. What is even worse is that another 15% were based on county cricket which I skipped mostly.
I enjoyed the author's "Fire in Babylon" on the Windies team of the 70s/80s and this will be a great read for English cricket fans especially.

[Ravinder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stories from different perspectives
Quite England, and county cricket centric...with a few international ones thrown in

[Vineet · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little England centric, people who follow county matches would like it. Almost all incidents chronicled have either the English national side or a county side in focus. Okay read.